Hervey Bay Gossip

The forecast this morning for Hervey Bay included a high tide of 4.29 metres that was set to peak at Urangan Pier 0929hrs … and it was indeed a very high tide that attracted a lot of onlookers .

This is the view from the access gate at Shelly Bay right at 9.29am

An hour later at Toogoom the water was receding but you can see from the pile of leaves that it had reached the top of the boat ramp.

At its highest the water level must have got fairly close to the top of the rock wall to the north of the boat ramp too.

The water level was well up along the Burrum Heads Road and the road into Toogoom as well.

90 minutes after high tide there still wasn’t much of the beach visible down at Dundowran Beach either.

We’ve had so much rain in Hervey Bay this afternoon - currently 33mm at Hervey Bay airport - that there has been minor flooding in various parts of town. In several places along the Esplanade water is covering half the road and the police have closed the Esplanade between Frank St and Denmans Camp Road due to water covering the entire road.

Despite the fact that the tide in the Bay is currently low the water does not seem to be draining away.

Tooan Tooan Creek is running a banker but it has cut through the sand that blocks the mouth at low tide and it is draining but elsewhere the stormwater drains seem to be unable to cope.

I wonder how the people in the poorly drained area in Wondunna have coped this time … did the council finally fix the problem?

After a very lengthy period where rain was most noticeable by its absence it’s finally raining again in Hervey Bay. Yesterday 5.2mm was recorded at Hervey Bay airport and there have been some more heavy showers this morning.

Maryborough recorded even more rain yesterday along some hail and some residents in Burrum Heads reported plenty of rain and wind damage as well. One resident resident found that his backyard had become home for another neighbour’s trampoline as well as a small collection of chairs … just like the Suncorp Insurance ad.

While there is the possibility of some more rain for Hervey Bay today and tomorrow the Weather Bureau suggests that there really is little chance that it will rain.

If that’s so then Hervey Bay will have only received 3.0mm during November and that it will equal the driest November on record … a record that was set back in 1926.

At 4.55 this morning the Weather Bureau issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds and abonormally high tide sna dangerous surf  for the coastal parts of South East Queensland and Fraser Island.

Damaging winds with gusts to 100km/h are expected to develop along the coast and higher ground in the south-east and extend to Fraser Island tonight as a deep low pressure trough that currently lies south of Coolangatta beings to move northwards.

It seems that the beautiful morning Hervey Bay is experiencing today is going to change to something quite unpleasant later in the day.

The trough that  brought so much rain and subsequent flooding to the Sunshine Coast seems to have faded away before it could reach Hervey Bay. Only a few showers have hit Hervey Bay today and there’s nothing more than scattered showers forecast for the region for Saturday and Sunday.

Things weren’t looking quite so promising yesterday evening when there were storm clouds gathering over Fraser Island.

One weekend casualty of the weather though is the Howard Country Markets. The next markets will be on May 2nd.

Yes, we have another tropical cyclone.

Tropical Cyclone Jasper has formed and at 2pm was a Category 2 cyclone located approximately 970km northeast of Sandy Cape and was moving southeast at 26km/h.

The Weather Bureau advises that Tropical Cyclone Jasper poses no immediate threat to coastal communites along the Queensland coast and if it maintains its current track no further reports will be issued.

It seems that our cyclone season isn’t over just yet; there’s a tropical low approximately 700km north-east of Mackay that looks set to develop into a tropical cyclone by tomorrow.

While the Weather Bureau is not sure which way the cyclone will head strong winds are already being felt up and down the coast from Cairns to Sandy Cape and a gale warning is in place for the coastline between Ayre and St Lawrence.

At 11.02am this morning the Beureau of Meteorology advised that Tropical Cyclone Hamish has now been reduced to a category 3 cylone and is located 165km northeast of Sandy Cape on Fraser Island. It is currently moving southeast at 11km an hour.

They cyclone warning for the northern part of Fraser Island has been cancelled and the cyclone watch for coastal areas from Yeppoon to Tewantin has also been cancelled.

Tropical Cyclone Hamish is expected to continue to weaken and the Bureau will issue no further Advices unless the cyclone moves back towards the coast.

Hopefully that means that here in Hervey Bay we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The latest Tropical Cyclone Advice from the Bureau of Meteorology was issued at 7.47am this morning. It advised that a Cyclone Warning is now current for northern parts of Fraser Island and a Cyclone Watch is current for the mainland coast and offshore islands from Yeppoon to Tewantin.

Tropical Cyclone Hamish remains a category 4 storm and it continues to move southeast at 11km/h.

Damaging winds are not expected to develop around Hervey Bay in the next 24 hours but the wind gusts certainly have increased and there are some branches down in various parts of Hervey Bay.